Clinical role of serum programmed death ligand 1 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: Where does it come from?

Purposes: Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a key target for the treatment of several malignancies. The present study was conducted to clarify the role of serum PD-L1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: Serum PD-L1 (sPD-L1) was examined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 153 patients with HCC who underwent curative hepatectomy at Kumamoto University in 2011-2016.

Clinical role of fludeoxyglucose (18F) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT) in patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Purposes: Clinical predictive markers for the malignant potential of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) are limited without histological investigation. We reported previously that a loss of the regular enhancement pattern in preoperative computed tomography (CT) was correlated with the malignant tumor phenotype. This study aimed to establish whether the metabolic aspect of the tumor evaluated by fludeoxyglucose (F) positron emission tomography/computed tomography F-FDG PET/CT is associated with the tumor imaging characteristics and postoperative oncological outcome.